Knight’s Errand

After an attack on Stark International using subliminal headsets, Iron Man puts out a fire at the facility nuclear power plant started by one of the few employees that is still under their control. After dealing with this crisis, Iron Man is on his way back to the head office when he sees that the tram rails have collapsed on a car. Rescuing the occupant, a beautiful woman, he carries her to the nearby hospital for treatment.

Returning to his lab, Tony Stark analyzes the explosives used in the attack on his company. When Jim Rhodes arrives, Tony tells him that he has been able to trace the components of the bomb back to a man named Aloysius Lafferty and asks to have the his private plane prepped for a trip to New Mexico so they can question him.

Before he leaves, Tony meets with the injured woman in the hospital. She is Indries Moomji and she explains that she is in the country studying technology and came to the plant to see it in operation when the accident happened. Although her injuries are serious she is expected to recover. Tony assures her that he’ll do everything to make sure she gets better. Becoming smitten by Ms. Moomji, Tony then arranges to have flowers delivered to her every day she is in the hospital.

As Tony heads to New Mexico, he and Jim are unaware that their trip is under observation of the mysterious chess themed King. He summons one of his lackies, the Knight and orders him to attack Stark when he arrives in New Mexico. The Knight uses his rocket powered steed and energy blasting lance to destroy a number of robots to show that he is prepared for the job. This is met with criticism from his allies, Rook and Bishop, but the King insists that the Knight is the one to get the job done.

As Tony Stark’s private plane makes its way to New Mexico it is attacked by Knight, who damages one of the engines. As Jim struggles to keep the plane in the air, Tony goes in back and changes into Iron Man and goes outside and makes some temporary repairs so they can make it to their destination. When they land, Tony is greeted by an old acquaintance named Janny and takes her out to dinner. When Jim questions why he’s going out with another woman when he was previously interested in Indries, Tony explains that it all boils down to one thing: Janny is here. When Tony gets back, Jim has already assessed the damage to the plane and figures it can be repaired by the following day. After Tony checks in to see how Indries is recovering, he heads out as Iron Man to track down Aloysius Lafferty.

No sooner is Iron Man gone does the Knight arrive at his hotel looking for Tony Stark. When he discovers that Stark is gone, he master tells him that he is heading to Lafferty’s and to follow after him.

Iron Man soon arrives at Aloysius Lafferty’s shack out in the middle of the desert. When his onboard sensors detects land mines, he calmly walks through them as a show of power. Aloysius also tries shooting him, but the bullets from his machine gun harmlessly bounce off Iron Man’s armor. Confronting Lafferty, he demands to know who hired him to plant bombs at Stark International, but unfortunately Aloysius was hired anonymously and received payment through a bank in Scotland, the Bank of Kildonen.

That’s when the Knight arrives and attacks the shack. In the ensuing conflict, Lafferty packs up his things and hightails it out of there. Meanwhile, Iron Man finds himself struggling against the Knight as the villain’s rocket steed allows him to move faster than he can. However, Shell-Head realizes that the Knight can only charge when in proximity to large objects like a nearby mountain or Lafferty’s shack and realizes that the Knight needs to lock onto an object to send his steed into a charge. Exploiting this weakness, Iron Man quickly overpowers and disarms the Knight. Loyal to his “king”, the Knight refuses to answer any of Iron Man’s questions, much to his frustration, and hauls the Knight off to jail.

Meanwhile, back at the Chessmen’s hideout, the King learns that the Knight has failed, but has more men and resources that he will eventually put Tony Stark in checkmate.

The next day, Tony Stark is flying home with Jim Rhodes. Although he hasn’t learned the identity of the person attacking him he has another lead to investigate. When they arrive back at Stark International, Indries Moomji has been released from the hospital and is awaiting their arrival. Taking Indries out on a date, Tony tells Jim that he will be in Manhattan for the evening. Jim figures wherever that is, it’ll probably be somewhere expensive.

Recurring Characters

Iron Man, Chessmen (Bishop, Knight, Rook, Pawn), Jim Rhodes, Indries Moomji

Continuity Notes

• The attack on Stark Industries happened last issue. The identity of the Chessmen’s King is revealed in Iron Man #166. He is a rival businessman named Obadiah Stane who is trying to take over Tony’s company. He will succeed by Iron Man #173. Part of his plans also include Indries Moomji who has been hired to destroy Tony emotionally. His sudden infatuation with her is due to pheromons being used to manipulate his emotions. This is also revealed in Iron Man #173.

• The Knight, Bishop, Rook, and Pawn are all unidentified by name here. Iron Manual Mark 3 #1 reveals their names to be Fletcher Heggs, Alban Eamond, Barnabus Kinloch and Napier Sutton respectively.